Juniper CEO Steps Aside

Data-networking vendor Juniper Networks said Thursday it has named former Microsoft executive Kevin Johnson to replace CEO Scott Kriens, who will remain chairman.

Juniper said Kriens, who has headed the company since its inception in 1996 and built it into a credible rival to Cisco Systems, will “remain active in the areas of strategy and leadership development.”

Johnson will join Juniper as chief executive in September. He has spent 16 years at Microsoft, most recently as president of the software giant’s Platforms and Services Division, which includes the Windows and online services businesses.

“The first 12 years at Juniper have been the most rewarding years of my professional life and I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished together,” Kriens said in a prepared statement. He called Johnson “a world-class executive, and a person whose values align exactly with the culture upon which Juniper has been built.”

Johnson, 47, previously has served as group vice president of Microsoft's worldwide sales, marketing and services and oversaw corporate operations and information-technology functions. Before joining Microsoft, he worked in IBM's systems integration and consulting business and started his career at Big Blue as a software developer.